LACMA Exhibition

Lena Rabchevskaya
Etching 378





LACMA “Myths, Legends, and Cultural Renewal: Wagner Sources” Exhibition



German Folk Tales and Myths are the main subject of this exhibition. The Exhibition is based on the relationship between Wagner’s music and the inspiration he drew from German folklore. Works featured consist of lithographs , some etchings , woodblock printing and installation art. Most of the works have a realistic, sharp quality to them , some very erotic and some very violent. Definitely not the fairy tale images we are use to seeing in today's cinema.


The first piece I was drawn to was a series of etchings by Stefan Eggeler. The main characters are witches performing series of tasks in each of the etchings. Some are very erotic, depicting several female nudes. All of the etching have a certain energy to them, they are mostly dark and a little “ominous,” the use of light is very minimal , just enough to see what is happening in the scene. My favorite piece in this series was “The Departure” c.1921, this was a first piece in the series, depicting witches flying on the brooms over a city. I liked the feel of the piece, certain “wild” aspect to this etching, you can feel the witches are not following any rules and do as they please.


My very favorite piece of the exhibition was lithograph by Carl Otto Czeschka “Dream of the Falcons” c.1905.It was a beautiful lithograph printed in blue, black and gold on wove paper. The lithograph depicts a reclining female figure on one side of the page and two stunning falcons hovering over a cityscape on the other side. In person the colors are really brilliant and craftsmanship of the drawing is pristine. This piece really caught my eye, it just stood out among the rest. Also, it was one of the few pieces that could be recognized as a modern fairy tale image.